Inside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Untouchable Bond: Pair Are ‘There for Each Other No Matter What’

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck took turns ribbing each other during their Jan. 13 appearance on the Today show. “He’s not great at cleaning up the house,” said Ben, referring to their time as roommates when they were struggling actors just starting out in Los Angeles. (They famously shared a bank account!) Matt then took a dig at Ben’s chronic tardiness, saying, “He got here before me and that’s the first time in 45 years he has not been late.”

It’s all in good fun. Underneath the teasing and jokes, Matt, 55, and Ben, 53, share a deep bond that has stood the test of time. Since their breakout film Good Will Hunting won them Oscars in 1998, the duo — who met as kids in their native Boston — have supported each other through marriages and starting families, Ben’s rehab stints, divorces and the highs and lows of fame. They’ve been each other’s touchstones from the beginning. “That’s kind of why we’re as sane as we are,” Ben mused to radio host Howard Stern during a Jan. 12 interview while the two were promoting their new Netflix crime thriller, The Rip. “Getting famous and successful kind of together, [we had] somebody to turn to and go, ‘Is this f**king nuts, or what?’ Or to say, What are you doing, man?’” In other words, while their lives were rapidly changing, they knew they were in it together. “Ben and Matt still see each other as the same regular guys from Boston who fought their way up from nothing,” a source tells Star. “They’re the only ones who fully understand what the other has been through.”

Buddy System

The pair’s success has been inextricably linked. In their early days, they both had uncredited roles in Field of Dreams and appeared together in School Ties and the indie flicks Chasing Amy and Dogma in the 1990s. More recently they costarred in The Last Duel and Air, which was the first film from their production company, Artists Equity, founded in 2022. Matt’s wife of 20 years, Luciana Barroso — who he recently revealed had a crush on Good Will Hunting-era Ben — also works as a producer for the company.

And they’ve also been there for each other when times are bad. Ben hit a well-documented rough patch beginning in 2015 when he separated from his first wife, Jennifer Garner, mom to his kids Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 13. In 2018 — two months before their divorce was finalized — he went to rehab for alcohol addiction, his third stint. “I was there for all of it,” Matt (who shares Alexia, 26, Isabella, 19, Gia, 17, and Stella, 15, with Luciana) told Stern, confirming that he didn’t turn his back on Ben’s struggles. “That means a lot to me,” a visibly moved Ben replied. “That’s sort of what a real friend is.”

Says the source, “Matt is even-keeled and nonjudgmental.” Even Jen — who was photographed driving a strung-out looking Ben to a rehab facility in August 2018 — relied on him. “He and Jen agreed that things had gone to a very dark place and that an intervention was necessary,” reveals the source, adding, “Whenever Ben or Matt have tough moments, they’re there for each other no matter what.”

Even so, there is some push and pull. When Ben reunited with lost love Jennifer Lopez in 2021, Matt publicly gave his stamp of approval, saying of Bennifer 2.0, “I’m just so happy for them.” But the source says privately he felt “a little pushed aside” during the whirlwind romance, which ended with their eventual divorce last year. “He had faith Ben would snap out of it,” says the source, “and that’s what happened.” Still, “it’s a two-way street,” says the insider, adding that Ben has been a driving force in the duo’s successful work partnership.

Dream Team

Work has been helping Ben move on since the divorce — and Matt’s a big part of that. In addition to The Rip, they have been growing their production company, creating deals that help cast and crew beyond the headliners reap more of the profits from streaming services. “Ben has thrown himself into work since his divorce and it’s been a great distraction,” says the source, “and Matt’s obviously front and center.”

Ben raved about getting to create alongside his bestie at The Rip premiere in NYC Jan. 13, “You’re really lucky if you can do this for a living,” he told US Weekly of making films. “And you’re exceptionally lucky if you can do it with people you love and care about.”